Quick Takes

So my reading lately has been either very plot-driven (a couple more thriller-y reads) or a comfort read in the sense of reading books in a series I like. Ultimately the thriller-y stuff are not my favorites, mostly because I like less explicitly gruesome books.

First for the series I’ve grown to like more as they’ve gone on: I’ve read the first two Julia Spencer Fleming books, which have a bit of thriller stuff in them, which is surprising because I expected them to be a lot more like the Louise Penny books. I was happily surprised by In the Bleak Midwinter: it’s the first entry in a series featuring two military vets: the police chief in a town of 8,000 covering a district of maybe 20,000 in upstate NY, and the new Episcopalian minister in town, a transplanted southerner who was a badass helicopter pilot. The characters were interesting– just enough backstory to see why they click. The plot was actually twisty, which I wasn’t expecting because I’ve read sort of dour snowbound mysteries (1222, Cover of Snow). And I was expecting less excitement because the marketing plan/covers look an awful lot like Louise Penny books (same publisher), and I don’t think of those as gripping.

Speaking of Louise Penny, I also just finished A Trick of the Light, and what strikes me most is that the characterizations are getting so much deeper as the series goes on. Hopefully her books don’t get bloated, but so far so good.

On the new front, I tried a debut mystery called August Snow by Stephen Mack Jones, which takes place in contemporary Detroit. The main character is a former cop who became a whistleblower (sort of inspired by the real Gary Brown, Detroit cop turned whistleblower turned politician). He lost his job and becomes a private investigator. Plot-wise the book left me cold because the action felt too amped up for me. I do like some big action-filled, conspiracy thrillers (Alan Glynn comes to mind), but this one just felt unreal for me. I think it felt too much like a superhero story for me.

Next, I tried a very dark thriller, The Dime, by Kathleen Kent, about a lesbian detective that moves from Brooklyn to Dallas and becomes embroiled in what appears to be a drug cartel war. The body count is quite high, the last third of the book is over-the-top violent, a move that I assumed was coming after reading books like The Keeper of Lost Causes. I kept on reading (and skimming some) because the book was written well, the workplace scenes worked well with interesting relationships among the characters, but I hate being put through the wringer when an author tortures her main character so thoroughly.

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2 thoughts on “Quick Takes”

I’m very glad to hear that you liked both the Spencer-Fleming and the Penny. I think both authors are very talented, and have created terrific series. In both cases, too, I like the way the characters evolve over time. Each reader is different as to how much character and how much plot is ‘right.’ Still, speaking personally, I think both series have a very effective balance.

Interesting thoughts on all these authors, Rebecca. I did read In the Bleak Midwinter, and have the next few books in that series, but never got back to it. I should. For the Louise Penny books, I had mixed reactions; I did not care for the first one, but the next two were pretty good. Haven’t gotten any further there either.

Lately I have read some thrillers. Some of them I enjoy reading, if they move fast enough, but I surely wouldn’t make them the majority of my reading. Not enough depth. Right now I think my attitude towards thrillers is: I will read the ones I already have, but won’t seek them out.